


Those forgotten days

by Doctorsmelody



Category: British Actor RPF, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who RPF, Mattex - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 19:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17473214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctorsmelody/pseuds/Doctorsmelody
Summary: But that was a year ago, and now she was leant against the doorframe, watching her husband snore and… fart… how charming.





	Those forgotten days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darlingmichela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingmichela/gifts).



> I'm trying to write more... I promise!!!

Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. It was 2am. She had been up since 6 getting Salome ready for school, running round after a teenager in the morning was never fun. Now, she lay in bed, her mind whirring with thoughts as her husband lay next to her in bed, snoring loudly. Matt had a hand draped over his stomach, the other up by his head, fast asleep in the middle of the night.

Alex knew she shouldn't take it personally. It was just a man thing. They never remembered things… especially important things, like anniversary dates. She sighed softly, a growing pit in her stomach already telling her that sleep wasn't going to happen. She threw the duvet aside, swinging her legs off of the bed before sliding her feet into her slippers that sat beside her bed. With her dressing gown on, she stood by the door, watching Matt for a moment before she padded downstairs.

She had been so excited that morning when she woke up, her heart pounding with anticipation. The year before, on their first anniversary, Matt had woken her up early, kissing her softly before he made love to her. As the sun rose over their bedroom, he handed her an envelope, surprising her with a weekend away in Paris the following week. The whole day had been perfect, from the tender way he held her as they made love, to their weekend away, holding hands down past the Eiffel Tower.

But that was a year ago, and now she was leant against the doorframe, watching her husband snore and… fart… how charming. 

Slowly, she padded her way downstairs, flicking the kettle on to make a cup of tea. The wind howled outside as a storm brewed in the distance, so she settled down in the window seat in their kitchen, watching silently as the sky lit up with thunder and lightning. There was something about a storm that always made Alex think. Maybe she was just overreacting. Maybe she was hormonal. Maybe she had just been through enough bad times to last anyone a lifetime and always jumped to the worst conclusion. Matt hadn't had his anniversary present yet, the front row tickets to his favourite football match of the year, and a new watch were still sat in a gift bag in the living room. She deliberately hadn't given him his gift, so that she could test if he really hadn't remembered.

When she woke up the previous morning on their anniversary, she had smiled as she felt Matt kissing her neck, his hands roaming her body. What a way to be woken up on their special day… until it was all over within 5 minutes and Matt was already in the shower without even saying he loved her. She had grinned when she went downstairs, seeing Matt in the kitchen, already cooking breakfast… but it had turned out to be just his own. Then when he had rushed out of the house, mumbling about needing to go and do something important. He came back in the evening grouchy and tired, with no word of a present or any hint that he had even remembered their anniversary. By that time, Alex had already cleaned up after cooking a romantic meal, blown out the candles and the rose petals were in the bin.

A quiet cough drew her attention from the night sky, back towards the house. She saw the familiar silhouette of her husband by the kitchen door, looking over at her in concern.

“Alex?” He asked, his voice still hoarse and croaky, “Did the storm wake you?”

She shook her head, looking down at her now half empty mug, cradling it to her chest. 

“No,” She sighed, refusing to admit that there were already tears in her eyes. “It wasn't that.”

He walked over quietly, scratching the back of his neck, wearing just his tight, black boxers. Alex had always slept badly, often waking in the night time, but for her to get out of bed was unusual. She usually just cuddled up to him until she finally fell back to sleep.

“What's wrong, sweetheart?” He asked, sitting down behind her. His long arms wrapped around her, pulling her back against his body.

“What day is our anniversary?” She asked quietly after a few moments, meeting his eyes in the windows reflection.

Alex felt his heart skip a beat, saw his eyes widen slightly in fear.

“It's… soon?” He mumbled hopefully.

“You've forgotten, haven't you?” She sighed, closing her eyes. “Of course you have.”

“I remember our anniversary!” He gasped, pulling back to look down at her. “It's… it's a Friday…”

She rolled her eyes, shrugging his arms off of her as she went to make another cup of tea. 

“A Friday?! Any Friday in particular?”

“This… Friday?” He said, stifling a yawn as he spoke. 

Alex spun around on the spot, glaring at him fiercely.

“No, it is not this Friday, or any Friday. We got married on a Saturday, and it is now Tuesday!” Alex shouted suddenly, surprising even herself with her anger. Her nostrils flared slightly, a tell tale sign that her anger wasn’t just over a trivial matter. “It was yesterday, Matt. Our wedding anniversary was yesterday.” She sighed defeatedly as she slumped down on the bench by the window, hanging her head. “It was yesterday.”

If there had been any other sound in the house, she wouldn’t have heard the tiniest sigh from Matt. She wouldn’t have looked up, just in time to see him lower his head, biting his lip as he did. She certainly wouldn’t have seen him run upstairs a minute later, or then run out of the house a minute later.

Alex stood, rushing into the lounge, watching him sit in his car, slamming his hands against the steering wheel in frustration before he drove off, disappearing down the road as the rain started to pour.

She waited downstairs for the rest of the night, trying to call him after half an hour, but of course he had left his phone charging in the kitchen. Eventually, she knew she had to get herself ready for the day, waking Salome up for school. How had everything gone so wrong? She wondered to herself. Just a few weeks before they had been laying in bed early one morning, when Matt brought up the idea of adoption. It had taken all of three minutes for Alex to agree, the brochures and preliminary forms were sitting in their office, waiting until the following week when they both had time off from work to really concentrate on getting the paperwork right.

The school run was quiet, saying just the obligatory goodbye to Salome as she jumped out of the car, running over to her friends. Alex thought about going shopping, maybe calling her sister to see if she wanted to get a coffee, but all she really wanted was to go home and get into bed. Preferably with her husband there. Yes, she was angry. But not that angry, not angry enough for him to leave the house over. In the nearly five years they had been together, they have never argued enough for one of them to storm out.

As Alex pulled into their road 45 minutes later, in an even worse mood because of the traffic, her breath caught in her throat as she saw Matt’s car in their driveway. 

“He came home.” She whispered, a soft smile breaking out on her face. She practically abandoned her car by the side of the road and got into the house as quickly as she could.

 

“Matt?” She shouted as soon as she was inside. “Matt?”

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand grabbed her arm a split second later, pushing her out of the door. She spun around to see who the assailant was, breathing a sigh of relief when she confirmed it was her husband.

“Get in the car.” He mumbled, grabbing his keys as he guided her to his car. “Please, Lexi.”

“What’s going on, Matt? We need to talk.” Alex said in confusion, her eyes wide and heart racing. “Let’s go inside.”

He shut the passenger door behind her, getting in the drivers side.

“I need to show you just how sorry I am, and prove to you that I will never, ever forget our anniversary again.” He said, turning in his seat to look at her. “I am so sorry.”

Alex closed her eyes, leaning forward to rest her head against his shoulder.

“It’s ok, honey.” She sighed, looking up into his eyes. “Cook dinner tonight and I’ll forgive you.”

Matt kissed her head gently before easing her in, telling her to do her belt up as he drove off, refusing to say where they were heading.

They were heading into town, that much was sure, but beyond that she was clueless. Her eyes widened when they pulled up 20 minutes later outside a dingy looking tattoo parlour.

“Matt… What are we doing here?” She whispered, her voice cracking slightly in fear. “Please… what have you got planned?”

He stretched as he got out of the car, looking into the shop window. He knew this was the right thing to do. He just knew it.

“I’m making sure I never forget again. And don’t try to talk me out of it.” He said, tugging her inside the shop. 

Never in her life had Alex been in a tattoo parlour, and she was surprised at how clean it was inside. She couldn’t stop the growing pit of fear in her stomach though. 

“Matthew, get out of this shop now. I am not letting you do this.”

Her words fell on deaf ears as Matt was led towards the back of the shop, handing a scribbled on piece of paper to the tattooist who he obviously knew, deep in conversation about what he wanted and where. 

“Stand there, Alex.” Matt said, looking up at her as he sat down in a chair covered in clingfilm. “Stand there, and watch me do this, and know that I have never felt more sorry for anything in my life. And… I’m taking you shopping. Anything you want, it’s on me.” He said, gasping slightly as they disinfected his wrist. He had thought about it all night, and his wrist was the perfect place to get it, because he always saw it. 

“Matt… don’t do this. At least think about this properly.” Alex begged, covering her face as they started.

It didn’t take long, Matt not showing any sign of weakness as he watched his friend work, the tattoo he had designed himself at 5am slowly taking shape on his wrist. Once it was done, he called Alex over before it was covered to have a look.

It wasn’t the clearest, the ink smudging a little initially, but there was obviously the letter A in a cursive font, with their date they got married written up the side of it. 23-06-14.

“You fucking idiot.” Alex said, rolling her eyes.

“I won’t forget our anniversary now!” He grinned, his smile from ear to ear.

“We got married on the 28th, not the 23rd!”

His eyes snapped up to hers, wide open in fear. 

“No… It was… fuck…” He groaned as Alex playfully slapped his arm. 

“Next time, check with me, you twat.” She laughed, her hair tumbling back over her shoulders before pulling her phone out of her pocket to take a photo of the incriminating evidence. “And check the calendar. It’s been written up there all year.”

Luckily for Matt it was a quick fix, just filling it the opposite sides of the three to change it to an eight. But he knew Alex would never let him forget it, but then, as he looked up at her laughing at him, already sending the photo to Salome, he figured there wasn’t anyone in the world that he would rather have reminding him, nagging him and laughing at him, and he would never forget another moment of it.


End file.
